Eat Your Veggies!

 

Why is it that so many young children snub their noses at the veggies on their dinner plate? Broccoli? yuck. Peas? No way. What about carrots? No thanks! There are exceptions of course, but throughout my years as an elementary school principal the vegetable compartment on our lunch trays many times sat full as students carried their trays up for dismissal. Is it the texture? Could it be the color? Or what about the name itself, spinach just doesn't have the same appeal as ice cream does it? Could it be that the difference maker is that we are told to eat our veggies because they are good for us and we need those vitamins and nutrients packed inside a broccoli floret, and then in the same conversation we are told to avoid those sweet, salty, snack food items because they will rot our teeth and add tons of bad calories? Blame it on our taste buds, perception of the visual image in relationship to the taste, or whatever you want, but at the end of the day, we tend to slide towards those things that are not good for us. And food is not the only area where we are drawn to choose the bad over what we know is the right choice to make. Why do we as a human race gravitate towards what is bad for us so quickly?

 

As small children we are taught right from wrong, we are rewarded for making good choices and we receive some sort of consequence when we make the not so good choice. As we grow and mature into adolescence and eventually adulthood, we make thousands of decisions based on right and wrong each day. Our morals and ethics from our upbringing should be the driving force as opposed to choosing whatever makes us feel good at the moment. In our example of the food choices, we have been taught that a healthy diet is a key to a healthy heart and a fit body. Yet, fast-food restaurants wouldn't be super-sizing our meals if the demand wasn't there. At that moment when hunger pings are knocking at your frontal lobe’s door, we want an immediate fix and a whopper sized burger with a x-large order of hot, salty fries meets the need about as fast as the swipe of your debit card. As mentioned, this making the right choice dilemma is in no way limited to our diet. 

 

The Apostle Paul, a man after God's own heart dealt with this choice of right over wrong too, because he was after all, human. In Romans 7:15-20 Paul describes the battle he faces in making the right choice. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." I can almost picture Paul sitting there with an enormous slice of chocolate cake encumbered with thick fudge icing to his left and a leafy green salad sprinkled with a lite balsamic vinaigrette dressing to his right as he contemplates which plate he will grab and devour. Transfer this to decisions made in your work space, relational decisions, or just plain old everyday decisions that are made throughout your day. Do you ever have to stop and give thought to the choice you are about to make? Regardless of the choice we make, the decision- making factor is where Paul admitted his struggle. 

 

So how do we bridge the gap between making the sound, right choice over the "this is what I want" choice? Well for Paul he worked it out this way, "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Paul acknowledged that he alone can't win the battle in his mind, but by relying on Jesus there is victory over the world available to all. 

 

 When we were children we really didn't know better when it came to choosing healthy foods over the junk food of the world. As we grew and became educated we also gained an understanding of the impact our diet has on our health. But we had to learn this lesson and then apply the learning to our decision-making process. That relationship still exists today in our walk with God. We know right from wrong because we spend time in God's Holy Bible, we place ourselves in settings where we can hear God's word taught and preached, and then we develop a deep relationship with God so we aren't just filling our minds with the sweet and salty allure of the world. It is true, you are what you eat, eat your veggies!

Coach Carter